The early decades of the twentieth century had no lack of prominent figures in the field of music theory, embracing both systematic theory as a generalizing means for demonstrating inter-opus and panstylistic commonalities, and in-depth (if unsystematic) analysis as an individualizing means for demonstrating intra-opus uniqueness. Among the best known of those figures are Heinrich Schenker, Hugo Riemann, and Ernst Kurth. Carl Dahlhaus attributed their significance to an obstinate, self-assured one-sidedness. That characteristic, he noted in comments on the 1968 reprint of Kurth's Romantische Harmonik, seemed a prerequisite to “leave a trace on the thinking of … contemporaries—the onesided individuals who distinguish themselves from the unknown monomaniacs by the small difference that counts.” Dahlhaus had in mind Schenker's preoccupation with Ursatz organicism, Riemann's with harmonic dualism, and Kurth's with volitional dynamism (melodic energy).

August Halm is conspicuously missing from Dahlhaus's list. The absence is curious because, like Dahlhaus's models of one-sidedness, Halm also single-mindedly and tirelessly promoted his dialectic of musical cultures, with its analytical, aesthetic, and music-historical corollaries. Further, Dahlhaus thought highly of Von zwei Kulturen der Musik, Die Symphonie Anton Bruckners, and Beethoven, although not without keen historicizing perspective and typical critical perspicacity. However, compared with Schenker, Riemann, and Kurth, Halm remains far less well known outside of and even within German-speaking countries. During his lifetime, by contrast, Halm enjoyed considerable renown. His writings were highly respected, especially (although not solely) in circles of nonprofessional musicians and music enthusiasts.